January 22nd Earthquake Update
As survivors pour out of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the epicenter of last week’s catastrophic earthquake, the long journey to their childhood homes begins. Many individuals—broken, bruised, mourning, and sometimes carrying the caskets of loved ones they cannot bear to bury in mass graves—have begun the 108-mile journey on foot through the mountainous regions of the Grand’Anse region.
An overloaded boat arrives in Jérémie shortly after dawn, filled with people fleeing Port-au-Prince.
“There is no way to overstate the importance of Port-au-Prince,” asserts a West Hartford, CT, intern with Haitian Health Foundation (HHF) in Jérémie, capital of the Grand’Anse. The graduate student from continues, “Everyone—everyone—has friends and relatives in the city.”
The Difficult Trip Home
Four days after the disaster, the first group of survivors began arriving home. Those who are fortunate enough to ride—a mix of the shocked and injured—are packed together in trucks for a 14-hour journey. Even in these transport vehicles, accidents and breakdowns on the steep and narrow passes have occurred, further endangering those who have already suffered so much. Still, they are the lucky ones, as others have died while walking.
Haitians who secured passage by sea manage a 100-mile journey by boat to the port of Jérémie. Even that route is perilous, as the thousands waiting for the ferry in Port-au-Prince learned when the wharf further collapsed in Wednesday’s 5.9 magnitude aftershock. In their haste to get home, as many as 3,000 have packed themselves into a 600-person capacity craft (to see a CNN video about the journey, click here).
HHF Providing Relief
HHF nurse Devon Root, RN, checks the blood pressure of a pregnant woman disembarking a boat from Port-au-Prince.
The Haitian Health Foundation is helping displaced families with emergency relief, medical care, and food. At left, Devon Root, RN, examines an expectant mother to ensure that she’s healthy enough to make the final leg of her long journey home.
Those coming to Jérémie are not only from Port-au-Prince, but from other areas affected by the earthquake. Already thousands have made the journey—4,500 more yesterday alone by boat—and HHF expects tens of thousands more to arrive during the coming weeks. The process of re-integrating these families is a monumental task requiring the cooperation of many local and international organizations, such as Croix Rouge Hatienne and MINUSTAH (UN). Additional assistance is expected from other organizations, but the focus for most continues to be on Port-au-Prince.
Thousands More Expected
Research shows that the largest migration of workers into Port-au-Prince came from the Grand’Anse region. Unable to support their families in an area with no industry, they had been forced to live and work in Port-au-Prince and send money home. Now they are out of work.
“This is heartbreaking,” says a somber Dr. Jerry Lowney, president and founder of HHF. “We have been a presence in Haiti for 28 years. We employ 200 Haitians—nurses, doctors, technicians, teachers—in our service to this area. I have known many of them since they were infants.”
In Jérémie, the earthquake caused rural houses to crumble. Food is becoming scarce, fuel is running out, and people are afraid to sleep, especially in cement buildings. More than one week after the earthquake, many still don’t know the fate of their loved ones. An area with overburdened resources is experiencing an influx of tens of thousands of refugees.
“We need HELP, and a lot of it,” states Dr. Lowney. “The most important thing right now is getting food to Jérémie. If relief agencies can get it there, we have the place to store it. We already have secure warehouses in Jérémie and our compounds there are large enough to build more.”
Hundreds of arms reach for fresh drinking water being tossed onto a boat from Port-au-Prince.
Members of Croix Rouge Hatienne (Red Cross of Haiti) help infants and children reach the designated children's area of the Jérémie wharf.
Two children receive food, water, and much-needed comfort at the Jérémie wharf. The girl at left appears to be injured from the earthquake.
The Haitian Health Foundation is grateful for the outpouring of support since the earthquake. To support HHF’s relief efforts please visit the HHF website at www.HaitianHealthFoundation.org to make an online donation, or mail your tax-deductible donations to HHF at 97 Sherman Street, Norwich, CT, 06360.
